Psychonauts developer Tim Schafer was credited in a classic Star Wars game from the late 90s, despite never actually working on the project.
24 years after the fact, Shaffer has provided some context as to how he ended up in the credits of Star Wars: Episode 1 Racer. We finally got our answer thanks to a fan who tweeted the Double Fine founder asking: "Was there a story behind this?" along with a screenshot of the Star Wars game's credits.
Luckily, for those who have been curious all this time, Schafer replied with the story of how this came about. "The Podracing team sat right next to the Grim [Fandango] team at LucasArts," the developer reveals, "Once, hanging out in their office, I asked, 'What credit are you going to give me on Podracer?'" To which the Star Wars Podracer team understandably replied: "'Why would we give you a credit? You didn't do anything to help make this project!'"
The Podracing team sat right next to the Grim team at LucasArts. Once, hanging out in their office, I asked, "What credit are you going to give me on Podracer?" "Why would we give you a credit? You didn't do anything to help make this project!" I said, "True, but on the other… https://t.co/qmZYPtQ3wOMay 18, 2023
"I said, 'True, but on the other hand, I did nothing to hurt it,'" Schafer continues. It seems the fellow LucasArts developers couldn't argue with Schafer's logic, and so if you go through the Star Wars Racer credits, you will find Schafer credited as: "never actively tried to sabotage the project" which is not only accurate but even more hilarious now that we know the context.
As for what Schafer and the rest of the Double Fine team are now working on, well unfortunately for me, it's not Psychonauts 3 - as much as the studio's fans would love to see it. In fact, the studio apparently has "multiple projects" in the works since finishing up all things Psychonauts 2. If you did want to relive the game's development though, Double Fine recently released a documentary series all about the psychedelic sequel.
On the topic of a galaxy far, far away, find out what we've got to look forward to with our upcoming Star Wars games list.
